From an early age, Bob Tomlinson was interested in making the most of living space. But later, he became disillusioned by the type of houses and huge developments he saw being built in the UK.

Now he is one of the driving forces behind a move towards ecologically-sound housing which also encourages people to interact socially and be part of a real community.

Bob, 50, is founder director and concept designer at Living Villages, a company which has already built a small development at The Wintles at Bishops Castle in Shropshire.

He said: “Eco-friendly, energy-saving housing is an important part of the future. But at Living Villages, we think it’s important to create places where people talk to each other as well as saving energy.

“High-specification buildings have a very small impact on the environment compared with the right sort of lifestyle.”

As a child, Bob showed an early interest in architecture. He would do detailed drawings of the cross-section of ships, arranging the restricted living space.

He subsequently began working in an architect’s office, but became very disillusioned with the massive, impersonal housing estates he saw being built during the 1970s.

“I was so depressed by what I saw happening there that my initial interest in houses completely evaporated,” he said.

Instead, Bob left to become a radio officer in the merchant navy, which eventually led to a job with BBC Radio Bristol as a technician – and soon he also began doing interviews.

In the 1980s, living in Bristol, Bob worked as a documentary maker – but after their son Luke was born, he and his partner Carole (Salmon) moved to Shropshire for the ‘good life’.

“We bought a 16th century house where we lived while the children were very young, and we were financed by the proceeds of selling my business in Bristol and various freelance jobs,” he said.

While in Bristol, Bob had recorded the Schumaker lectures, including one given by an Australian called Bill Mollinson.

“He was promoting the idea of permaculture and sustainability, which was very interesting,” said Bob.

“I drew up some sketches of a scheme for an eco-village, which attracted interest from several people, including one wealthy individual – and in 1993, we set up Living Villages as a trust, with offices in Park Lane.

“We concentrated initially on Shropshire, where planners suggested that instead of building a brand new development, we should instead look at the sustainability of an existing community.

“The small town of Bishops Castle was rather run down, with only one place to work – so initially we bought the pub, which had some land behind it – then we leased it back to Living Villages.

“We brought the pub back to life and started a brewery there – and it was voted the second-best pub in the UK by CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale).

“There were also some craft workshops at the back of the pub – and we also obtained planning permission for five homes to be built there.

“Some time later, we became aware of an 18-acre site which became available elsewhere in the town. The owners had seen what we’d done behind the pub and agreed to sell it to us.

“That site became The Wintles, a development of 40 properties built by Living Villages in 1999. And it really began to define why we were doing this.

“Although we did have an eco agenda, it was really much more to do with an emotional reaction to the sort of developments which had been built during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

“These developments were full of tower blocks and didn’t work well as places for people to live. We wanted to build eco houses that people wanted to live in.

“When people choose a house, buying somewhere that is energy efficient is often quite low on their list. They want somewhere that is attractive.

“We had a great struggle to get this across to architects – we didn’t want sharp edges and clean lines; we wanted something soft and ‘higgledy piggledy’.

“The ‘Bedzed’ site in Sutton, Surrey, was set up to be a ‘zero energy development’ (ZED). It is full of high-specification buildings, using a lot of hard concrete and glass. But they haven’t paid any attention to the space in between the buildings.

“At Living Villages, we prefer to create secure spaces for young children and old people – and identifiable neighbourhoods, in which people can relate to where they live.

“There has been some monitoring done of ways in which people can reduce their carbon footprint – and it showed that the things which provide the greatest benefit are lifestyle issues, such as growing your own vegetables.

“There is no doubt that super-insulated buildings and solar panels can help reduce running costs – and we would be mad if we didn’t take this into account.

“But we feel that spending money on allotments can have a phenomenal impact on the environment compared with installing photovoltaics. A small cluster of houses where people grow their own vegetables could be much more effective.”

Living Villages is now behind plans for a live/work scheme in Scotland, which is designed to encourage small businesses.

A number of houses have been designed with work or selling space on the ground floor and living areas above, while larger houses have their own entrepreneurial units – and others have separate work areas.

“We have got an option on this site, which is within a development area – but it hasn’t yet been zoned for development,” said Bob.

There is also a site in Cornwall which has been earmarked for 256 units – and Living Villages is in negotiation for a couple of other developments in the Midlands.

“Again, we would aim to build on these sites in a higgledy piggledy fashion, with food-growing areas all around and wind power installed,” said Bob.

“The houses would have relatively small gardens, so we would create amenity areas where people could come together and get to know each other.

“We always build open porches on the front of our houses, where people can have a chat on the doorstep while being protected from the rain – without having to invite people inside their houses. It is a ‘safe space’.

“And we prefer to build car ports, not garages – which are located away from the houses, so people have to walk past their neighbours on their way home from work.

“At the front of the buildings, we leave an 18-inch area which people use in different ways – sometimes they plant it out, or park their bicycles there and it comes to life.”

Bob added it was important that The Wintles was seen as contributing to Bishops Castle.

“This is difficult when you only have 40 units – but with a couple of hundred units, we could put in the infrastructure to make it viable…”

Bob and Carole live in Devon with their two children – Luke, 14, and Saskia, 12.